Sae 2009

The zero-carbon and zero-waste Masdar City currently under construction in Abu Dhabi will also be car-free, so how will one get about the one-mile square town of 50,000? If you want to travel on the surface you can walk, bicycle or ride a Segway but if it's snowing too hot to travel outside, you will also have the option of venturing underground and ride to your destination in a personal transit vehicle (PRT). These electrically-powered, centrally-controlled pods can carry four to six people and

As more automakers are working on extended range electric vehicles, the issue of NVH is becoming even more of an issue than in existing parallel hybrid vehicles. With vehicles that operate predominantly in electric mode minimizing the impact of starting up the range extender or auxiliary power unit is critical. Companies like General Motors are working hard to make sure the range extenders operate as quietly and smoothly as possible, but small piston engines inherently have some degree of vibrat

The Scuderi group unveiled a cutaway version of its first prototype of a new split cycle engine at the SAE World Congress this week. We first heard about this engine three years ago and got more details at the 2007 SAE WC, but this is the first time we have seen something physical rather than just CG animations. The first actual running prototype used to prove out the combustion process is being assembled right now and expected to start running by mid-May. It will be a normally aspirated variant

Just days after General Motors put out the call to settle on a plug standard for electric vehicles, it appears that an agreement has been reached - in Europe at least. The plug design will be unveiled at a German technology fair on Monday by energy company RWE. The plug design uses three prongs and will support charging at up to 400V. For starters, Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Fiat, Toyota and Mitsubishi have all agreed to the new standard.